Printable View
HI all,
Currently I do have a mini (12x18, 35W) and a Helix (24x12, 75W). I do trophies, awards, plaques, tumblers, tags etc. Also do engraving on items that people brings in. Don't get that many request for engraving on items that cannot fit in my Helix.
I am exploring on adding a new laser (Fusion 30x20, Speedy 300 or 360). I know the bigger the better the bed size. But was wondering what others are engraving/ cutting that can't do with the Helix.
Thanks
Mark.
I have four C02 lasers,
a 1300x900 (51"x35"-ish) Triumph-Chinese
a 24" x 24" LS-900 Gravograph,
a 20" x 36" GCC Explorer
a 12 x 18" LS-100 Gravograph...
My LS-900 has been in and out of service the past 4 weeks, dealing with bad replacement stepper motors- the 24x24" table is very necessary for me. The GCC's long table is very handy, but the 20" height becomes an issue on many parts, usually operator panels with lots of wording. Some panels I could fit by rotating 90*, but the extra time it takes to laser text vertically is excruciating. The big Triumph's table fits pretty much anything I do, but being a glass laser it's very slow to engrave and alignment is more tedious-- but still faster than a fast machine engraving sideways!
I love my LS-100 because it's my most powerful metal laser, but because I have the other 2 metal machines, it's small table size generally isn't an issue- unless one of the others is busted... ;)
Short version: Get as big as you can afford to pay for. Rarely does anyone complain their table is too BIG. :D
I have a Speedy 300. Most of my work could be done with a smaller table but I like the speed, the rotary device and the flexibility of the 300.
I have had a few large items over the years that I wouldn't have been able to do with a smaller laser, or one with a pass-through, but the majority of the reason a large bed is beneficial to me is some of the high quantity items I have done and the ability to place many items at one to greatly increase my throughput. One example was dogtags - I was able to fit almost 500 in the laser at one time and when I needed to do almost 40,000 of them that saved me hours of time.
Get the largest, highest power laser you can afford and you'll never be sorry! (caveat - for mostly engraving don't bother with anything above 100 watts or so).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark Tromp
Mark if you are going for an imported laser, dual tubes only adds about 20-25% to your total cost. I think you would find that all the dual tube owners will confirm that they would not go back. For me I use a 60 and a 150. Like a pen and a sharpie they are different. For those with dual same size tubes they have double production on the same frame.
cheers marty
Thank you all for the input. @Gary Hair.. Thanks for the tip. make sense and for sure will speed up the process.
I got a quote from both vendors (epilog and trotec) and I was surprised that the quote from Epilog (Fustion pro 20x32 80w) was higher than the speedy 360 80W.
I am planning on attending the ISS show in September and who knows maybe will get even a better deal.